A Finding Aid to My Soul: An Archivist Storytelling Event

The Committee on Public Awareness (COPA) presents “A Finding Aid To My Soul,” an open-mic storytelling session celebrating the diversity and commonality of the archivist experience. Storytellers will have five minutes to share true stories about their unique, moving, serendipitous, mysterious, special, and often humorous encounters in the archives (no props, please).

Virginia Hunt, Harvard University Archives – The ten things they don’t teach you in graduate school all learned in one particularly strange donor experience.

Petrina Jackson, Iowa State Special Collections and University Archives – My encounter with a burnt cross, and how this item had a personal, visceral impact on me.

Elizabeth Myers, Smith College Special Collections – A tragic love story set amongst the Communist Party and World War II.

A Chance to Tell Your Story:

Five additional storytellers will be selected at the performance. Contact Chris Burns at chris.burns@uvm.edu in advance or sign up at the event for a chance to share your story.

Serve as a Judge:

Three teams of judges will be selected from volunteers in the audience to determine the top storytellers. Prizes will be awarded. Contestants will be judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, making the archivist central to the story, and having a story with a beginning, middle, and end.

Sit Back and Enjoy the Show:

Come hear the tales of your colleagues in what promises to be an engaging and entertaining event.

As a teaser, here are a few stories from The Moth (featuring respectively a library card, thoughts on memory, and a letter from Iggy Pop) to give you a flavor of what this format looks and sounds like and some examples to aspire to.